New 10.1/4″ Locomotive “Stafford” from Station Road Steam

Posted 8 February 2014

Many thanks to Mike Palmer for this item

Ready-to-run 10 1/4 inch gauge locomotive from Station Road Steam

“Big Stafford” is a development of our 7 1/4 inch gauge “Stafford” design (wherever do we get the inspiration for these new product names…). A scale-up of the smaller engine, we are currently well-advanced with a batch of four engines, two at 10 1/4 inch gauge, the other two for 7 1/4 inch gauge which are the same size engine, but with wheels moved inside the frames and flycranks on the outside.

The engine comes out at around a half ton ready to run, 64 inches long with a 19 inch fixed wheelbase. Boiler is pressed to 150psi giving a nominal tractive effort of around 650 pounds.

Pictures show the engine at an early stage at our open day last year, loosely assembled. Picture of the chassis shows a size comparison with a 7 1/4 inch gauge “Stafford” (the sharp-eyed will notice a two foot gauge Bagnall cylinder on the surface table, one of six destined for a batch of three engines currently in build).

Since the pictures were taken we’ve finished machining all motion work and valve gear, boilers are due completion this month. We expect to start delivering engines at Easter, two have already been pre-ordered by existing “Stafford” owners.